The July 23 Democratic Debate

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Grade: B-

Started out blazing, with passionate answers railing against banks, mortgage companies, insurance companies and special interests of all stripes. But CNN seemed to validate the CW that Edwards has dropped from the first tier by forcing him to go long stretches without talking, leaving the candidate looking aggravated and with nothing to do but tap his fingers in the cutaways. His submitted video took on the infamous $400 haircut with cutting humor — but in a fashion that might have been too slick for some. Fumbled the story of a female American pilot and Iraq vet who was sitting with Elizabeth Edwards in the audience, and inexplicably told Hillary Clinton he didn't like her jacket in an effort to offer an amusing response to a wacky question which had candidates saying something they liked and disliked about the person to their left. Passionate anecdote from his recent poverty tour showed him at his best near the end, but the slump in the middle (and the odd sartorial insult) cost him big.

—by Mark Halperin